[EDIT: This was a 2 star rating, but after an unpleasant experience the morning after I revised the score.]
I've never understood why so many Chinese takeaways sell fish & chips. It doesn't use the same cooking equipment, the same flavourings, or the same cooking style much at all. But loads of Chinese take-outs are also chippies, and as I've been trying every chippie I can find I thought I'd give the Lloyd Street Chippy a try. Sadly, I still don't understand why Chinese takeaways cuisine-jump, because this fish & chips was just a bit wrong at every turn.
Fish & chips, as the name implies, is a simple thing with just two components. And though it is often considered a cheap vehicle for salt and vinegar (or gravy, mushy peas, or whatever), it is best with a bit of flavour and subtlety before you add your condiment of choice. Lloyd Street Chippy simply doesn't deliver either of these, replacing them with lashings of salt.
There are three issues with this. Firstly, it creates a very one-dimensional and boring flavour. Secondly, it means that if you ask for it without salt it will taste of nothing at all. Finally, especially when combined with the oiliness of their food, it makes for a seriously unhealthy - and almost unpleasant - dish. And don't underestimate the amount of oil you take home with you. By the time I'd gotten from the shop to my kitchen (less than 5 minutes) my food had soaked through the polystyrene box, paper wrapping, and plastic bag it came in. I can't recall a more greasy fish and chips I've had for years.
Lloyd Street Chippy does have some redeeming features, mostly value. At £4.10 and a good-sized portion of fish it is one of the most cost-effective ways to solve a chippie craving around, but even at that price I wouldn't go back again in a million years.
Steer clear, and I hope their Chinese food is better. read more
